Friday, 2 December 2011

A few weeks ago (well actually a few months ago) we went on a little adventure to Epping forest. We would like to say that we wanted to get some fresh country air, but the truth is that we needed to give Jeeves a good drive as his battery had seen better days from lack of a nice long drive. Too many short trips around Hackney was not doing him very good. So here are a few snaps from the trip.

Sunday, 9 October 2011

So we finally managed to install our newly purchased Battery Isolator Cut Off Switch that we wrote about in one of our previous blog posts. It was super easy so fix on to the battery, following the instructions that we also put up on that previous post and now it is bye bye to struggling with old rusty nuts and bolts that get stuck every time. The pleasure of switching the battery on and off by a simple turn of the dial is pretty amazing!

You just have to make sure the whole thing is screwed on nice and tight so that there is a good connection. Fingers crossed that Jeeves will be all good from now on!

Friday, 7 October 2011

Last night was the 1st thursday of the month open studios on Vyner street in East London. Jeeves was there all ready to help with some cocktail making to support our friend Tim's art gallery opening.

It was a chilly night out but it didn't rain. We had a bit of bunting and a perfectly sized table to fit in between the two doors. This time we remembered to disconnect the battery whilst the doors were open so that we would not get stranded at the end of the night.

We had a nice menu of coctails, poster made by the wonderfully talented Mia Wallden.

All three cocktails were a hit, but i must say that the highlight cocktail of the evening was definitely the earl grey gin one called 'The Thames'.

The previous weekend, Jeeves, Mia and I scounted around the charity shops of downtown essex to find the perfect glasses and tea cups fit for the occasion.

This is the gallery which was buzzing with activity on the night.

We drew in quite a little crowd with Jeeves the cocktail cab in full swing.

Sunday, 2 October 2011

We had our battery die on us AGAIN after not driving Jeeves for a week. So as usual we called the AA out to help. This time, a young guy on a bike came out to help, he got the battery started without too much trouble but the best thing is that he told us to get this battery isolater cut off switch which would make it infinitely easier to disconnect the battery at a twist of a dial.

The isolater switch and my trusty spanner

For a very reasonable £4.99 (plus postage) we found this piece on ebay which we hope will make it much more likely to disconnect the battery. Even though we knew we should do it, we never really did. I'm about to go and install it now, so i'll write an update with the outcome.

Friday, 1 July 2011

So, in the previous post I was raving about the benefits of disconnecting your battery if you are planning on not driving your beloved old black cab for longer period of time (or even just a few days if you have a Jeeves). It just means there is no chance of the battery getting drained, saving you a lot of time, worry and money.

Welcome to our fool-proof tutorial on how to disconnect the battery of a Fairway Taxi.

You will need one of these;

Adjustable Spanner (Wrench)

Step 1.

Open the bonnet of your car and locate the battery.

Found it!

Step 2.
Locate the cable that you are about to disconnect. Its held on with a few bolts.

Here is the one we want

Step 3.
Loosen the bolts carefully but forcefully. Don't be too scared to get electrocuted, but please be careful as you are dealing with electricity. Also, it can sometime be a little bit stuck so you might have to bang it a bit to get it off.

Should have done the manicure afterwards...

Step 4.
No need to actually remove the nuts from the bolt, just loosen it and pull the whole thing off. Try not to touch the bolt that you have just removed the cable from. (The one that is part of the battery) Again, its electricity which, even if its not black magic, can still hurt if you get a little chock.

Its all off now!

Step 5.
Place the cable away from the point it was attached to and you are done. Close your bonnet and enjoy some no-worry-time of a fully charged battery waiting for you when you are ready to drive.

Nice and Easy!

Remember that the central locking needs the battery so make sure you get everything out that you need and lock the car before disconnecting the battery or you will have to put it back and do it all again. If you do forget, you can simply place the end of the wire as it was, on top of the bolt from the battery, and it is connected. The nuts are just to hold the thing in place for when you are driving.

To re-connect, just place the cable back as it was and make sure to tighten the nuts. You don't want it to jump off whilst enjoying the exciting 55 miles per hours you have managed to achieve on the motorway with the turbo button...!

We have had quite a few issues with our battery on poor old Jeeves. We got a new one a few months ago, as the old one didn't quite make it through the very cold winter. First everything was good, but it soon started playing up. We thought it might be the alternator, which would be quite expensive to fix, so we kept hoping it could be something else.

Black cabs, especially the older models, are made to be driven every day, so sometimes if they are not, the battery dies quite quickly. So when we went away for a month a while ago we had a friend look after Jeeves and babysit him, which he did very well. But Jeeves wouldn't have any of it, and when we came back the battery was dead again.

As our usual friendly mechanics were very busy, we went to Jim at Hackney Road Motor Engineers, who was recommended to us by a friend. The garage is on hackney road (the name might give that away), close to Cambridge Heath Station. When we walked in we realised it is actually back to back with our usual mechanics. Its good to keep it local.

The entrance on Hackney Road. Next to the bike shop disguised as a Chinese take-away

Jim's place is not a black cab garage but he does all sorts of cars. When we went, there were normal modern family ones and a couple of 1930's beautiful vintage pieces sitting side by side all being seen too with the same loving care.

The place to go

As Jeeves was completely out of juice Jim had picked him up from our street and hooked him up like a patient in an emergency room to once and for all charge his poor little battery. He was charging for one day and then left standing for two days to test if the battery would hold up.

Jim discovered that we have a light in the boot of the car, one of those that switches on when the door is open. As the general feel of Jeeves sometimes can be described as 'rustic', the boot hatch does not always reach the off-switch for the light, leaving it on and draining the battery. So Jim disconnected the light as we have no need for it anyway.

A general note on old black cab boot hatches; You should always double check that it is properly closed and locked as it otherwise can open while you are driving and bang into cars behind you. The hatch opens down, not up as on modern cars. We have seen it happen to others and have had a close call ourselves. So now we always double-check it when we have had it open.

However, the best thing that Jim introduced us to was the disconnection of the battery. We were about to go to Glastonbury, this being the longest drive we have done in Jeeves and having to leave him in a field for a week with the prospect of not getting home made us a little nervous. But this new exciting trick saved the day! Its super easy, and we think it is well worth knowing about so stay tuned for the next post with the instructions on how to do this.

Instead of hoping the battery will last, or relying on other cars to jump start us, we are now just disconnecting the whole thing, so there is no chance for the battery to get drained. The purr with which Jeeves started after a week of having been disconnected was positively the best sound ever. It is easily the best thing since sliced bread. In fact, sliced bread is not even close.

Monday, 2 May 2011

It was Friday 29th april, 2011 and declared a bank holiday thanks to the royal wedding.

We hosted a little tea and scones event at our place on Broadway Market in the morning and in the afternoon we decided to take Jeeves for a spin around town to see what was going on.

Darwin enjoying a little indulgence

Jeeves with his Royal bunting

Mia making sure the royal bunting is properly attached

First we went towards Old street and whilst we quickly checked whether the congestion charge was being upheld on this royal occasion, we drove a few times around Old Street round about. Luckily Boris had given us the day off the Congestion charge, so we decided to cruise on into town to see how far we could get before chaos ensued.

Jeeves with Jacqui

We decided to pop into Soho where some friends were having a few drinks on Old Compton street, so we joined them for a lemonade and gave Suzie who had been up all night camping to get a prime position for the wedding, a lift to Charing Cross station for her to get home. Jeeves quite enjoyed having a cab full of people and on this Royal occasion, calling out to friendly revellers on the street was more than acceptable.

Susie, Gary, Scott, Paul, Mia, Jacqui and Jeeves in Soho Square

Here we are in Soho Square where we found a nice spot for Jeeves to park by the mini Tudor house. All in all it was a very fun day out in town. A spontaneous little trip turned into a royal social afternoon.

Sunday, 24 April 2011

Jeeves was given a spring clean recently, and that must have started something, as we receieved an image from one of the Mini-Jeeves' scattered around the world. Below you can see yet another Swedish mini-Jeeves (build by Mia's parents) going for a invigorating car wash as he is getting ready for the easter holidays.

A-peeling car wash

Mini-Jeeves then got all dolled up, to take part in the easter festivities. The tradition is that you dress up as a little witch and go around giving easter cards to people, hopefully receiving candy or maybe some lovely air-fresheners in exchange.

Jeeves hanging out with the easter witch and some chicks

Our non-nordic readers might want to notice the snow still in the background. It might be summer here in England, but there are still pockets of snow in the north of Sweden. This trio of little people are off to Blåkulla to have a proper witches easter feast. And as they will of course travel by broom stick, Mini-Jeeves can have a little rest too.

Here in London there has been such an amazing summer weather lately that you could almost think it is june already. But we are still in april, and with Easter coming up we thought it was high time for a spring clean.

We drove past the garage on Kingsland Road in Hackney and got an excellent hand wash and a very thorough vacuum and clean on the inside for £10. After a moment of worrying if it might be the dirt that kept some of poor old Jeeve's parts together, we saw that the guys were doing a really good job and it was like having a new car. He has never been this clean for as long as he has lived with us!

Getting a shampooing

Jacqui stayed put in the driver seat during the wash, but I had to jump out after discovering that the passenger seat door was a little less sealed than wanted, giving me a good shower too.

Get all that dirt off me!

We were charged the same price as a 'normal' car even thought they would have charged a bit more for a 4x4 or similar size. So we were very happy about that! One of the very helpful guys even got the 'tire-shine' out for us as a final touch.

Wednesday, 6 April 2011

We are proud to tell you that Jeeves is no longer just another retired cab who thinks he can get away with just hanging around being fed diesel when ever he likes and going on nights out flirting with Mini Coopers. The other week we made use of him by picking up a friend from the airport. Catherine came carrying suitcases so massive even Jeeves got worried they might not fit in. But of course they did, and we even received a donation towards Jeeves' diesel habits!

Thursday, 17 March 2011

There might be little signs of spring out there, with blossoms on the trees and occasional kisses of warm wind in the air, but winter is not over yet! We received this image from snowy Sweden, showing the troubles of being a very small Jeeves in the claws of Father Frost.

Who forgot to change to winter tires?

This mini-Jeeves was built by Stefan, Mia's brother-in-law and is really being put to the test by the elements! We might send a 'Build-your-own-tow-truck' to save him!

Tuesday, 15 February 2011

We have definitely caught the Car Boot Bug and have yet again been to sell our worldly possessions for a penny a piece. Our local car boot is Princess May School in Stoke Newington. Its run by the London Car Boot Co. and is a really nice and friendly one with lots of returning customers and sellers.

Welcome to our shop!

This Sunday was a little empty at first as rain was predicted, but we still made a good profit as more people showed up later on. We are looking forward to a few more of these, especially when the weather is warmer.. brrrr! Jeeves makes it so easy to stick everything in the back and drive down. Once you get over the fact that you have to get up at 5.30 in the morning! And Jeeves loves to earn his own money.

Some of the carefully selected items on display

We also had great company by Jacqui's brother Kevin, his girlfriend Suzana and also Shawn and Carling who were all trying their luck in the car boot business.

Our 'shop' was hugely improved by the use of two massive tables that we borrowed from our friends at Moraes of Manna, who serves up very tasty thai food at Broadway Market every saturday. Well worth a visit!!

The car boot gang and some happy customers

We love car boots! On both sides of the stalls. This time we didn't get anything for ourselves but last time Jacqui found a brilliant Liberty Print shirt. And we are hoping that the guy who we sold these exiting objects to, below, is happy with the purchase. After all, health and safety is key!

Tuesday, 1 February 2011

This year Jeeves got special Christmas presents from his Swedish extended family who are very experienced with the trials and tribulations of sub-zero weather conditions. To say that these steering wheel covers have been life-changing would be an understatement. He is like a new taxi! We LOVE them!

Mia falling asleep at the sheepskin wheel

The product warning should read: "Beware: Drivers may accidentally fall asleep at the wheel"

Over the last few months Jeeves has been lucky enough to have a secure lock up, courtesy of Lee and Kathryn from the fabulous Lock 7 cafe in Broadway Market. They so kindly let us part Jeeves there whilst Mia and I get our act together and sort out some more permanent parking solution.

Jacqui modelling our summer steering wheel

As we mentioned earlier, we got a front passengers seat installed when we first got Jeeves, this was probably the best thing we ever did. This is me modelling what it would be like if the guys down at the taxi garage could also install an extra steering wheel. This would be extra helpful for the times when Mia falls asleep at the wheel.

Tuesday, 18 January 2011

We found this little Jeeves craft kit at the London transport museum, and thought it would be a great christmas present for people in general... and dads specifically. In fact, the London transport museum was a great place to find lots of goodies related to... London... and transport.

Build your own black cab for just £7.99!

Below you can see the finished result, as put together by Jacqui's dad in Sydney. Stay tuned for more mini Jeeves's from other parts of the world... specifically Sweden!

Beautifully crafted

We are not obsessive or anything... but LOVE cab stuff, so if anyone has any links or other pictures of Black Cab memorabilia, please send it to us and we will post it here to share.

Saturday, 8 January 2011

It's been Christmas and New Year, so first of all; a very happy 2011 to all of you!

I decided to do a little cross stitching as a Christmas gift for Jacqui, and what better inspiration than Jeeves.

Jeeves immortalised in thread

She took it all the way to Australia were she was visiting family over the holidays, so it was almost like sending a little effigy of Jeeves to test if he can deal with the warm climate (and floods, as it looks at the moment!) in case we ever manage to, in some epic way, drive all the way there.

Sociable

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About Us

We are two civilians with a black cab roaming around the east end of London. We love our Fairway, 'Jeeves', and want to share the practical and less practical sides of owning this iconic vehicle as a private car in London.